Sutton’s recent bad run continued on a wet and windy night at the Chigwell Construction Stadium as U’s slumped to a third consecutive Vanarama National League defeat and a second by three clear goals. After a bright start, U’s were rocked back by Josh Rees’s 15th minute goal and after that, apart from a spell in the second half just after Ashley Nadesan and Jayden Harris had been brought on, there was rarely any suggestion that Dagenham & Redbridge would be denied their first win since the opening day of the season as Dion Pereira, who had been on loan at Sutton for the first half of last season, scored twice to continue his good start to the season.
There was encouragement for U’s early on as Will Davies drove in a shot from the edge of the penalty area that was saved comfortably by Elliott Justham, and Nana Boateng’s cross was diverted for a corner at full stretch by Tom Eastman, but then Trent Rendall, who looked as though he could have been offside, ran on to a ball down the right and crossed low for Rees to score from close range and give the home side an advantage they rarely looked like losing. Rendall fired in another low cross that needed only a touch to give Dagenham a second, while Sutton struggled to trouble Justham until the closing stages of the half when Lewis Simper saw his low shot saved by the home keeper.
Hopes that Sutton could recover in the second half receded within four minutes as Muller was adjudged to have handled as a free kick came in from Frank Vincent on the left, and Pereira put the resulting penalty high in to the net. It was the signal for U’s to make a double change, Nadesan and Harris replacing Siju Odelusi and Finley Barbrook, and the next ten minutes saw U’s best spell of the game. Charlie Waller met Nadesan’s deep cross with a volley that bounced on the top of the crossbar, and Josh Coley sent a low cross just out of the reach of the onrushing Boateng, but the goal that would have set up an exciting last half hour eluded U’s, and it was Dagenham who would have the better chances for much of the remainder of the game.
A mistake by Muller allowed Pereira to go through, and although the defender recovered to divert Pereira’s shot and allow Tyler French to clear, he injured himself in the process and had to go off, giving Chin Okoli a debut after signing on loan from Millwall earlier in the day. Pereira was away again soon afterwards on a counter attack after Simper and Coley had both sent shots in to the defensive wall at a free kick, but Simper did brilliantly to chase back and deny Rees a second tap in from Pereira’s pass.
Vincent had the ball in the net after substitute Reece Grego-Cox had gone down the right and crossed for Junior Morias to set him up, but he was denied by a belated offside decision against Grego-Cox that may have balanced out any injustice that U’s felt over the first goal, and the luckless Vincent also headed against the bar from a Rees cross, volleying the rebound over, but there was no escape for U’s when Morias picked the ball up in plenty of space inside the Sutton half and put Pereira through to finish with a neat shot past Arnold. U’s night was summed up in stoppage time when Nadesan managed to burst past the otherwise outstanding Paul Kalambayi to go clear on the left, but his pass was too far in front of Coley, who managed to keep the attack going and put a chance on a plate for Davies, who shot wide.
Sutton: S Arnold, R Jackson, C Waller, T French, H Muller(sub C Okoli 67), S Odelusi(sub J Harris 53), J Coley, L Simper, W Davies, F Barbrook(sub A Nadesan 53), N Boateng(sub J Sivi 73). Subs n/u J Sims, H Ransom, E Vaz. Booked: Barbrook
Dagenham: E Justham, T Rendall, F Vincent(sub R Vigrass 90+5), P Kalambayi, T Eastman, H Phipps, D Pereira(sub O Rutherford 90+2), J Rees, J Umerah(sub R Grego-Cox 79), J Morias, C N’Guessan(sub L Woodhouse 65). Subs n/u S Remy, D Stephenson, J Adigun. Booked: Umerah, Pereira.
Referee: Paul Howard
